Communicative competence for English-Medium Instruction higher education in the digital era: Insights from a linguistic ethnography

Other conference contribution, 2023

In this talk, I will present a recent study that approached communication and learning in EMI in the digital era with a focus on the notion of communicative competence. Specifically, the study attempted to address the following question: what constitutes the communicative competence that students need for learning in English-medium instruction in today’s digitalised learning environment. The study employed a linguistic ethnography design and collected observational and interview data from 19 master-level students (with diverse ethnolinguistic and disciplinary backgrounds) at a Swedish university. Two major findings of the study will be discussed: First, the study shows how diverse digital multimodalities and AI-language tools are essential features of spatial repertoires that enable students to accomplish interactive learning tasks in EMI. Second, the study also highlights how digital diversity in EMI causes power and inequality issues in intercultural communication among students. The talk will conclude with implications for language policy and curriculum design in EMI higher education to address students’ new communication demands in the digital era.